Thailand’s populist former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has arrived in Bangkok after more than 15 years in exile as his party returned to government in a controversial pact with its military rivals that keeps reformists out of power.
Thaksin – a hugely influential but also divisive politician – began an eight-year jail term on his return, though commentators have noted that his arrival in the country coincides with his party’s return to office and a backroom deal could allow him to escape a full sentence.
